1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fryer pot for a gas fryer. More particularly, the present invention relates to a fryer pot for a gas fryer having a low oil volume (LOV) configuration. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a fryer pot for a gas fryer having a low oil volume configuration that provides a narrowed region in which debris is retained.
2. Description of Related Art
Deep fryers that are used in the commercial cooking industry must be able to quickly heat oil and cook large amounts of food product to meet customers' expectations. Further, the cooking oil must be as free of debris as possible during the cooking process to extend its useful life. However, vendors must balance the customers' expectations with the high cost of cooking oil and fryer pot maintenance issues.
Although various designs of fryer pots have been developed in an effort to improve the overall cooking efficiency and useful life, drawbacks still exist. With an emphasis on rapid food preparation in large quantities of foodstuffs, existing fryer pots are very large and require high volumes of oil for the cooking process. Large volume fryer pots give rise to large heat transfer volumes, cool zone volumes and temperature gradients that present the possibility of induced stress in the fryer pot walls. Stresses on fryer pot walls are further exacerbated by pressure related stresses due to the weight of the large volume of oil that is contained in the fryer pot.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a fryer pot configuration that lowers the volume of required cooking oil while maintaining a sizable opening at the top of the fryer pot and cooking basket and provides a smaller channel at a lower portion thereof for effectively flushing the debris from the cooking oil.